Lacuna
by sharkinterviewee
Summary: starmora fae!AU - In which Peter is a novice fairy only just beginning to learn about his lineage, and Gamora is the forest spirit tasked with teaching him about magic and the world he never knew
1. Chapter 1

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Peter exclaimed. Even that descriptor was being generous. He's shrieking right now, his voice so high it would be enough to send the forest birds scattering through the tree branches and into the sky if they hadn't already been asleep this late in the night.

Gamora was pretty sure every nocturnal creature within a half mile radius had been alerted to their presence, thanks to his shrillness.

"Are you. Fucking. _Kidding me?!_"

He couldn't believe this.

Gamora could stand to be a little less pleased about it, smirking like she was at his reaction.

If she was supposed to be his mentor inducting him into this whole fae thing, she could at least _pretend _not to be enjoying the reveal so much.

The exact nature of his bloodline had been kept a secret from him while she showed him the ropes over the past few months. They'd even become friends- that teasing sort of smile on her face was usually one he was all too happy to see. But not tonight.

Gamora had known what he was the whole time, but apparently it was some policy or something to keep it confidential from the newbies that had been raised in the human world as their mentor introduced them to the magic world- part of the training or something.

All this time- he thought it would be something cool. Maybe a forest spirit like her- though he had seen some pretty nifty tricks from fire elementals. He'd even heard about some fae whose specialty was music (for some reason, it seemed like fairies relating to bodies of water often had musical abilities under their special skills too). Even as he learned about all these different types of beings, the magic they possessed, and the properties of this realm he had no idea existed for most of this life- he still knew so little about what _he _was.

Peter had an inkling, lately. He thought maybe something to do with the moon, or darkness.

His magic was related to night- Gamora had been teaching him how to use his powers the past couple weeks. Small stuff, without giving too much away about his lineage. She was more working on getting him familiar with his magic, getting him used to the feel of it. Teaching him some little tricks that didn't really give him much to go on in terms of what type he was. There was a reason they practiced at night, though.

She said the more he practiced the better he'd get, but for now his powers were strongest at night.

Apparently being a forest spirit meant Gamora had a wide variety of elements and powers that didn't usually cross over- one of the reasons why Peter was her mentee, she told him.

Gamora was more than adept with nocturnal magic, among others, so she would be able to teach him how to use his.

She hadn't given him anymore to go on than that- which he'd been able to glean from their nightly training sessions, thank you very much.

"Please tell me you're joking," he begged one last time, even though he knew that wasn't the case.

Gamora took her job pretty seriously.

She'd known what he was from the beginning, and hadn't let it slip once before he was 'ready', no matter how much he pestered her the past couple months, and Peter Quill could be _very _annoying. Using his skill set to his advantage.

"I assure you, I would not joke about this sort of thing," Gamora said, sobering up slightly. The spark of amusement in her eye betrayed her though, as she tilted her head forward in a show of seriousness. "I thought you would've learned by now- I do not dance, and I do not joke."

Peter could see the grin peeking out from behind her lips, and Gamora raised her eyebrows, almost daring him to contradict her.

He almost did. He wanted very badly to correct her that actually she does dance, that one night she danced with him- but he was too hung up on what he just learned to fall into their friendly teasing.

He felt like pulling his hair out.

"A fucking tooth fairy?" Peter screeched, voice rising another octave. He wanted to flip a table.

Unfortunately, they were outside in the middle of the night, thus there were no tables for him to flip.

He'd give the whole universe a big F U if he could. There aren't words for how much he was flipping the universe off in his soul right now.

Fuck the world, fuck everything, fuck fae and magic powers, fuck him for being a goddamn tooth fairy, fuck his life, fuck fuck fuck. God dammit! Peter Quill officially hated everything.

"Oh calm down," Gamora chided him, once she'd had her fun watching his very entertaining reaction.

Peter threw an accusatory finger at her. "Don't you tell me to calm down! You've known this whole time! All this fucking buildup, these night training sessions, being all secretive and not telling me what I am, you're this cool elusive forest spirit, and I'm a fucking tooth fairy! _God dammit, Gamora!_"

Her cheeks felt warm at his words- even when Peter was upset he was giving her compliments. Not that she needed his validation, but she did have to admit her chest did feel all warm and fuzzy at his offhand comments. Even if she only rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh, or grumbled in response, rather than show how pleased it always made her.

Cool elusive forest spirit was a new one.

"The tooth fairy is just the English name," Gamora informed him, expression softening into something undeniably fond. She liked teasing Peter, but he was her friend too, and she wasn't a total jerk. "There are certain... customs attributed to your kind, and that is where the human folklore of tooth fairies get their source material from. There is a wider array of what the beings that humans refer to as tooth fairies cover than their association with teeth." She paused then, tilting her head to the side thoughtfully. "The general human consensus is not wrong per say, just... limited in scope. Tooth fairies deal in more than just teeth. It's just that humans have only attributed their tooth related behaviors to them, hence the name. Teeth are one of the things, yes, but it would be more accurate to say they deal with... bone."

Peter perked up a little at that. "Seriously?" He narrowed his eyes at her, suddenly suspicious she was just saying that to make him feel better. Or to get him to stop screeching.

But that was undeniably more awesome than fucking teeth. Bone he could work with.

(The naming thing tracked too, if he thought about it. Probably a lot easier for humans to spot a correlation between fairies and teeth, since teeth were a whole lot more accessible than _bone_.)

Gamora nodded. "It is another reason you have been paired up with me," she said, suddenly excited. "Because your area of expertise is not an element- and it is more than just night. There is a reason I am your teacher, and not a fae linked to shadows or the stars. A daughter of the moon would be an ill fit to teach you about your powers. There is a reason you were paired with a forest spirit. Because your domain is also that of a living thing."

Gamora was practically bouncing on her toes, beaming at him as she said all this. It was kinda adorable. Clearly she had been wanting to share this with him for awhile.

Peter paused. He wasn't thinking of it like that.

He'd of course learned that newbies and 'guides' were paired up due to similar powers. It only made sense for someone who was familiar with your type of magic to be the one teaching you.

He would never think to classify forest spirits and bone faeries together, but when other classes were things like fire, wind, night and day- it kinda made sense. Inanimate parts of the universe that had never been part of a living thing, elements that were parts of the natural world, just how things were.

A lady of the lake had magic drawn from the water, and fae made from star dust had stable constellations in the sky. They didn't work with dead things; the things had never been alive in the first place.

But the forest was living, an interconnected life force that had a circulatory system made up of tangled roots and webs, the creatures that called it home, all indelibly tied together to make an organism of its own. Bones were part of something alive too, and more inextricably linked to the forest than Peter Quill had any idea of.

When a fox made its burrow in the earth, took shelter in her wilderness, it became a part of the system. One cell among many that gave the forest life. But even cells die.

As much as a forest was the trees that marked its place, the thorned bushes and the berries growing upon them, the grass that spread across the floor, the wildflowers that bloomed in the spring, the leaves that fell in the fall- the forest was more than just the flora. It was the creek that made its bed under the canopy of leaves, the rains that watered the ground, the rocks and dirt of the earth below. It was the fire that cleared out the underbrush, that made room for new things to grow. It was the sunlight, and the lightning strikes the forest needed to last.

And it was the animals who made the forest their home. They were as vital to the forest as the rest.

The birds who nested in the scraggly branches and sang to mark the morning, the creatures who only came out under the cover of night- they were all part of the ecosystem, essential to keeping the forest alive and breathing. The critters spread seeds, kept the system in balance. They provided the nutrients for the soil to continue giving life.

One day, the fox who made its burrow will lay down on the forest floor for the last time.

Time will take care of the rest. Soon all that will be left is bones.

The fox, the birds, the mice that scurry across the ground- predator and prey- it's the natural way of things. Life and death are tied to the forest, and the skeletons that are left behind are a part of the forest too.

* * *

"I'm surprised you haven't made a joke about boning," Gamora appraised him, almost taunting him into making one- she didn't say _yet_, so fair game.

Peter slammed his hand over his heart with a dramatic gasp. "I would _never!_" That's a lie, they both knew he totally would, but still he continued in his mock offense, grinning, "I am a class act-"

"Mhmm, sure you are."

* * *

Peter decided maybe he wasn't so upset about being a fucking tooth fairy if the only reason he met Gamora was because of the overlap forests had with what was apparently a tooth fairies domain.

He'd hate to have been taught by anyone else.

If this was what it took to bring them together, then he was pretty lucky being what he was.

If Gamora was only assigned him as her charge because of that, yeah, he was good with bones or teeth or whatever the fuck got him in her orbit.


	2. Chapter 2

_Their flirting only gets more blatant from there. He proved her wrong about being a dancer every chance he got, and she didn't really mind. _

_Gamora supposes that's what led to this moment. This culmination. _

_Peter moves into her space, dipping his head down to hers, his face impossibly close. _

_She doesn't move away. His arm sidles around her waist and her breath quickens, pressing against him as much as he is her. Her fingers curl into the fabric of his shirt, fisting in the material as a means to keep him close. _

_"So how inappropriate would it be for you to have a relationship with one of your trainees," Peter asks with a smirk, his voice low and enticing. His nose almost brushes against hers, his tone pitched low in a way that makes her shiver, his warm breath skating over her skin. _

_"I- didn't know you did relationships." She tries to maintain her cool, not show how much this is affecting her. It doesn't work; it's not convincing at all. _

_"Try me," he challenges. _

_She decides to take him up on that, and presses her lips to his. _


End file.
